What NOT to do When Finances Get Tough in your Company….

This is a hot topic in any company. We, being a marketing company and having worked with hundreds of water damage restoration companies, have seen what we call the “kiss of death” when it comes to tough times in this business.

When money is tight, things get stressful, hectic, some poor decisions get made, and understandably so. Stress can cloud good judgement. We’ve all been there. Ask anyone who has been married for a long time what financial stress does to their relationship. Ok, point made.

So…the kiss of death…what is it?

When finances get tough, they shut down the front end of their company. Like what? They lay off their marketing managers, cut off their marketing programs, let go of a sales person or two, stop focusing on advertising, focus more on saving money than on making it. That’s the kiss of death.

Obviously when times get tough, frugality and economy need to come into play. There’s less money, so of course it does. But cutting off  the front-end of your company is the opposite of what you should be doing. One of my top and favorite clients, every time things slow down which they inevitably will, he really pours on the coals on the front end, and rightly so. And he does very, very well. 80% of his focus goes onto the front end of his company in those tough times. He doesn’t cut it.

Here’s some tips on do’s and don’ts for ways to win through the tough financial times:

DO:

• Spend a majority of your time focusing on the front end, new business, of your company.
• Market and advertise, and do it more, in more places.
• Understand how long it takes to get an SEO program really going
• Terminate any employees that are not helping to expand your company. The people that you’re unsure about, or make you tired all the time, or always “steal your attention” should be your major targets for termination.  You know the good ones who make your life easier. You can feel it.
• Work harder and longer, complacency will kill you. Doing nothing about it will let the death of your company occur.
• Remember all of your successful actions that got you where you are today, slam them in.
• Fire the clients you wish you didn’t have. You know the ones I’m talking about. You don’t need their money and they factually are holding you back from making money from good clients who need you.

Don’t:

• Terminate the people who your company survives on the back of.
• Cut marketing programs and advertising that gets you in front of new people.
• Freak out and do a bunch of things that don’t work – the “shotgun effect”. Stay calm, collect, do what you know works, what has always worked.
• Spend 80% of your time on the 20% of your clients who scream the loudest. Spend your time on the clients who are excellent, pay on time, etc. Fire those clients who do not.
• Keep sales and marketing people who tell you about how good they are, but produce nothing of value for you. If they are worth it, you’ll see it in their numbers.
• Get advice from anyone who is less successful than you.
• Blame your situation on the economy, other companies, competition, etc. Those thought processes won’t help you solve the situation.

Tough times are just that. But some of my biggest clients were the survivors of 2009-2010, and they got bigger than ever and it was by doing the things mentioned above. Don’t take my word for it, make friends with other Water Damage Restoration biz owners, bigger and more successful ones, and let them tell you what I’m saying.

Sincerely,

Dan York Founder,

www.water-damage-marketing.com